Kouzes and Posner's Leadership Practices and Senge's Five disciplines - Essay Example

Kouzes and Posner’s Leadership Practices and Senge’s Five Disciplines s affiliation Kouzes and Posner’s Leadership Practices and Senge’s Five DisciplinesThe leadership practice by Kouze and Posner, The Leadership Challenge, employs the use of case studies in a bid to clearly exemplify the “The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership”. The practices are; modeling the way, inspiring a Shared Vision, Challenging the Process, Enabling Others to Act and encouraging the heart. On the other hand, Peter Senge has a vision of a learning organization as being a group of people continually enhancing their capability to create what they want to create.

This is anchored on five disciplines which are; the personal mastery, the mental models, building a shared vision, team learning and system thinking. It is worth noting that a culture of collaboration, innovation and meaningful inquiry is dependent on all the five common elements/dispositions while working in collaboration with one another. The two sources are suggestive of similar theoretical concepts and presentations in various ways. Kouzes and Posner believe in the need of leaders clarifying their values and acting in congruence with the values which is critical in not only building credibility, but also inspiring others to listen and follow.

Senge similarly believes in the discipline of Personal Mastery aligning well with the congruence of values and actions. This is what he refers to as creative tension that is generated by the juxtaposition of vision with the current reality. The similarity in the two is also evident as regards the congruence of values and actions is the need of a leader to not only build, but also sustain the shared vision.We can therefore conclude that just like Senge postulates, all disciplines need to be developed together as an ensemble with the common elements.

In disregard to whether one subscribes to Kouzes and Posner or Senge, all the common elements will be present in all the organizations surviving and sustaining reform in the face of declining resources. Both the five Disciplines and the Five Exemplary Practices are a true explication and demonstration of the core leader disposition that is need while buttressed with other relevant leadership literature. ReferencesArgyris, C., & Schon, D. A. (1974). Theory in practice: Increasing professional effectiveness.

San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Bolman, L. & Deal, T. (2008). Reframing organizations: artistry, choice, and leadership. 4th Ed.SanFrancisco: Jossey-Bass.English, F. (2008). The art of educational leadership: balancing performance and accountability.Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc.Fullan, M. (2003). The moral imperative of school leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: CorwinPress.Garmston, R. (2007). Collaborative culture. Journal of Staff Development, 28(2), 55-57.Gregory, R.A. (Jan.2009). The Art of Collaborative Leadership: Practices and Disciplines.

PaperPresentation to the Hawaii International Conference on Education, Honolulu, HI.